The purpose of the invention is to construct a drive unit for wheel or disk-shaped members, for example in normally manually powered personal vehicles, wheelchairs, bicycles and the like, which drive unit comprises an energy source, a drive motor, and if desired a one- or two-piece transmission, the parts thereof being of a low weight and small structural size, which parts are interconnected for example through separable connectors so that the drive unit can be operated mainly by weak, ill and/or handicapped persons with one hand, without thereby causing a reduction in function and performance.
The invention attains this purpose by operatively connecting the drive motor to the disk-shaped or wheel-shaped member, if desired, by means of a transmission, or drive train, and by the user being able to easily releasably fix it on the vehicle while he is in his normal rest position on the vehicle.
A further development of the invention is that the drive motor can be attached to the transmission, which is in constant connection with the wheel or disk-shaped member. However, it is also contemplated that the drive motor can be attached along with the transmission, as a unit, to the wheel or disk-shaped member. It is also contemplated that the drive motor can be operatively connected along with a part of the transmission, as a unit, to the remaining transmission part which is arranged on the wheel or disk-shaped member.
Furthermore, it is inventively possible that the drive motor can be attached directly to the wheel or disk-shaped member, that the drive motor is an electric motor, that the energy source is a battery, which consists of individual battery elements which are separated from each other on the vehicle, and that the battery elements are connected to one another by means of cables and/or plug connections and can be operated by means of a common control handle.
Another inventive possibility exists by the energy source being a small generator, or the drive motor being a gasoline motor.
It is furthermore inventively possible that the transmission is a conventional drive train like for example as gear drive, a friction gear, a belt drive or a chain drive, a linkage or a hydraulic gearing.
In a hydraulic gearing it is for example possible to arrange the drive motor with a hydraulic pump unit on a part which is remote from the vehicle wheel, whereby a hydraulically driven turbine wheel is fixedly connected to the rim of the vehicle wheel. The supplying for example of oil occurs then through hoses with quick disconnect couplings, of the kind which during disconnection seal closed immediately, so that no oil leakage occurs.
A further possibility is offered by a small generator, which is connected to battery elements, which in turn supply their energy (which is constantly supplemented by the generator) to a disk motor which is for example centrally and directly placed into the vehicle wheel hub where it is releasably fixed by suitable lockable clamping means.
Due to the easy handling of the drive elements which are arranged separately from one another and which are connected with one another by means of cables and/or plug connections (with gasoline motors also through cables and gasoline lines) it is easily possible for a single person, who for example is handicapped and depends on a wheelchair for mobility, to make out of a normal collapsible wheelchair an electrically driven wheelchair. This is of particularly great advantage for older wheelchair users, who as a further transporting means also use a car, since they thus become largely independent from any need for an attending person.
Thus the inventive wheelchair is a collapsible wheelchair, on which, with a few manipulations, an electrical drive unit and the associated battery or a small generator can be detachably mounted.
Thus out of a collapsible wheelchair with its advantages is made an electrical wheelchair with its advantages.
The inventive drive unit comprises one or two motors, which are mounted on the wheelchair, for example by attaching to the wheel or wheels, and further comprises battery boxes with a control which are mounted or attached for example to the front ends of the arm rests of the wheelchair. When using a single motor, a steering means is to be provided. The parts of the drive unit are designed such with respect to weight, that they can easily be mounted, thus for example attached or removed, by a handicapped person sitting in the wheelchair, or by an attending person. By these possibilities of change are overcome the disadvantages of the electric wheelchair, namely that it is not collapsible and therefore, and also because of its great weight, is difficult to load and cannot at all by the handicapped person be loaded into a car or other transporting means. Thus a handicapped person can travel with the inventive wheelchair electrically to his car, can remove the drive unit, store it in the car trunk and can then get into the car like he would with a normal collapsible wheelchair.
The batteries can be stored in the car such that they are recharged by the car generator during driving.
The inventive wheelchair can be used in a home like a normal wheelchair, the wheelchair does not need to be modified when leaving the home, and the drive unit is mounted on the wheelchair only when the wheelchair user wishes to move by means of the electric drive. Therefore storage space for a second wheelchair is not needed. The inventive wheelchair makes it possible for a number of handicapped persons to move for the first time with a car or other transporting means without any attending person. Furthermore, the possibility of use of the inventive wheelchair is increased to a greater circle of persons compared with presently existing wheelchairs due to the possibility of being able to transport it easily with a car.
Furthermore, it is possible with the inventive drive mechanism to also drive bicycles, baby carriages, hand wagons, and the like, and even for example, with a friction transmission, potter's wheels, grinding disks and the like.